Simply meter off the background to the left or right of the sun (preferably a blue portion of the sky), and shoot at that setting. Everything in the foreground will silhouette.

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5/1/2005 11:47:43 AM

Dev Mukherjee

In addition to what Bob said, make sure you do not use the flash while shooting the silhouette. Your camera may also inadvertently pop up the flash in certain exposure modes. You have to safeguard against that.-- dev.

Carrie,To insure that your foreground subjects will silhouette, there needs to be at least 3 or 4 stops difference between your subject and the brighter background. (Having your subjects wear dark clothing makes this easier to accomplish.) As Kerry W. mentioned, bracketing is always wise. Just be sure to use the meter reading off the SKY (not the subject) as your starting point.

This link will show an example using this process: http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/dynoGallDetail.asp?photoID=326042

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5/3/2005 2:30:28 PM

Maria Melnyk

You can also add a colored filter for a more dramatic effect. Any color will work, depending on the effect you want. I use orange and cyan filters. Orange has a warmer look, and the cyan one (bluish) has a colder look.

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5/4/2005 2:28:46 PM

member

thanks, bob. but i've done that in the past and i'm shooting candids, and I still didn't get a total siloutte.

here's a pic of a great silouette http://www.betterphoto.com/gallery/big.asp?photoID=755862&catID=&style=&rowNumber=16&memberID=74482

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5/4/2005 3:40:17 PM

Maria Melnyk

Carrie - You may have been overexposing your background. Meter the ambient light instead of off the sky, and then close the lens down by one stop, but make sure that the reading off the shadow side of your subject is 4 stops less. It will help if the sun is low in the sky. This should work for you.

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5/4/2005 3:47:10 PM

Maria Melnyk

Aha! Carrie - I just thought of something else. Could it be that your exposure and technique are correct, but your lab is printing your silhouettes too light? This happened to me just yesterday; I had to ask for another print. Here is a copy of the image that I uploaded.

and Thank you, Kerry - sometimes in the midst of my frustration, I can forget some of the most useful yet basic tool ever! Thanks for reminding me about bracketing (I have a digital, so no worries of the film labs).